Sunday, March 23, 2014

Hear ye, hear ye! Baytown Talks!

.

You may well remember that the long time Internet local
forum Baytown Talks re-launched January 1, 2014 as baytowntalks.net.Well, it has taken off, to put it mildly.We are averaging 100 new subscribers per
month.

Some of our notables are Mayor DonCarlos, council members
Brandon Capetillo and Terry Sain.I’ve
written each of our councilmen inviting them to join.After all, it is in their best interest to
know what people are talking about, right?

Professor Susan Cummings came on board yesterday, which to
me is an endorsement of sorts.Susan and
I agreed to disagree about ten years ago and both of us enjoy reading what the
other writes.Terry Prothro joined to
keep us informed about the nature
Center’s activities.

The hand of the king is Anna “Booksie” Singleton.She is the forum’s number one moderator and
keeps everything running smoothly.Booksie (a nickname I gave her as she is an avid reader) knows what is
acceptable on the forum and what is not and watches everything, like a sharp-eyed
gentle hawk.

For those who may not know, a forum differs from social
networking sites in that those who are members post an email-like question or
statement and anyone else on the forum can write a response.All conversations fall into categories.It is nothing like Twitter either, as a
person can write a tome and it will post – or they can post a video or
photograph in the category pertaining to their interest.

Unlike Facebook, where the posts scroll out of sight and are
forgotten, the category – say, CRIME, will contain many threads with relevant
responses.The thread will stay until it
is way down on the list, or eliminated by the moderator or admin because it is
no longer relevant.

One thread that is very popular is:What are they building?

In this thread (heading), if someone wants to know what is
happening on a corner lot in a business zone, they will ask the question.Often times, our City’s PR person, Patti Jett
will post a “fact”.What, not
speculation?Nope. She will inform us that such and such a
business has filed intentions to build.Incredible.Of course, before she
posts, any member can speculate and often this is the case, for better or
worse.

Read a good book?Post it in the Books and Reading
section.

Have something you want to buy, sell, or simply give
away?There is a section for
non-businesses to post it there.

Baytowntalks.net is proud to have ExxonMobil
refinery retiree and Vietnam Veteran Ren Fitts come onboard as our military
adviser.If you don’t know this guy, you
should and if you have a question about Veteran’s affairs, or just want to toot
your son or daughter’s military horn, this is the place to post it.Ren is the moderator on military affairs on
the forum.

Pets.Who doesn’t love pets?Or
gardening?What about firearms, or your
favorite restaurant?Yup.BaytownTalks.net has a section for each of
these topics and guess what?It’s all on
a local level.That’s right; its Baytown area folks
talking about our rapidly expanding city.

Yes, Baytownians talk about the
Walking Dead and Revolution (no, the TV program!) and what is showing at the
Baytown Little Theater.Big shot actor Kenny
Wade makes sure of it as he is a member of the forum.

There is a section for politics, kitchen
talk for sharing recipes, Baytown Business, and a general discussion category
where things like computer virus’, the Houston Texans, pet peeves, whether or
not it is okay to eat something that falls on the floor if you pick it up
within 5 seconds, and should we prep for the coming possible apocalypse.

The theme of the forum is Baytown, Texas
- Where friendly people share and after almost three months, it is running
smooth as a baby’s bottom.Can I still
use that expression?Maybe I should
create a poll on BT.net and ask our members?

If you want to know what is going on in and around Baytown, simply register
on BaytownTalks.net.You will be
instructed to verify your email address, but don’t let this scare you
away.It is strictly to ensure you are
not a computer virus and no one including the moderator or admin can see your
password.

Baytown is growing in such a manner
that soon, we will be so big, even the old timers like me will have to have a
tool to know what is going on around town, besides the Baytown Sun and by the
way, the Baytown Sun staff watch BT.net also, as it is an excellent way to find
out what people are talking about.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Kuddos Bert! I have missed hot pursuit and just found Baytown talks. Several times I would think "I need to get on Hot Pursuit to look up something or see what happened" but :( it wasn't there. Thanks to all the moderators for joining us together again!!